During her solo retrospective held at the Asia Society Texas from April to September, 2025, host curator Owen Duffy planned to fete Margaret on her 92nd birthday. The planets were aligned for Tiffany Beres, guest curator, and Prof. An-yi Pan (my father’s former student) to give short lectures followed by a custom-designed cake. The only misalignment was catalog rollout which had been delayed by issues with the printer.
Can one imagine a birthday at 92, an age when many contemporaries are no longer, where 135 friends and supporters attended? It speaks to Margaret’s large Houston-based community and her artistic staying power. Attendees included a trustee, friends and family, her calligraphy students, National Taiwan Normal University alumni and various art-interested viewers, many Chinese of course.
Before the celebration, Margaret and I went around in the largely empty galleries. A number of visitors approached her. Beyond the obligatory praise, two common themes struck me. First, they described ‘being deeply moved by her paintings’ suggesting a more powerful impact beyond the visual. Second, they told her they had been to the exhibition two or three times, providing evidence of the first. As always, Margaret was her smiling gracious self and connected easily with her fans.
During the lectures, due to the sound issues, Margaret had difficulty following the lectures. She was intrigued by An-yi’s insightful juxtaposition of her ‘Autumn hills’ 1968 (Harvard) and Gong Xian’s ‘Ten thousand peaks and ten thousand valleys’ circa 1670 (Reitberg) – that my father wrote about. Later, she said, ‘even though there are similarities in our compositions, our styles are actually very different.’ She was placed next to Nancy Allen, a major museum donor, at the front table. But when Margaret later asked me to identify who was sitting alongside her, Margaret realized she had mistaken Nancy for a collector and committed a small faux pas which she asked me not to share. Quickly we began to laugh at the image of two doddering matrons speaking nonsense to each other, thinking the other must be crazy.
Afterwords, the specially-designed two-layered cake was intended to mimic Margaret’s iconic ‘Floating without end’ 1970 (CT/B Li collection) and fed the entire gathering. As you can see, it indeed captured her flowing ‘chi’ strokes and colors. TC was brought by Paul and sat nearby enjoying the cake. Many old friends approached TC as well.
Although Margaret received the first piece of cake, people quickly began to line up to speak with her and I daresay she didn’t get to ingest any. I marveled at the line which stretched a dozen or more long. Margaret was glowing, radiating warmth and fully engaged with each person, recalling crossed paths and old times. Fortunately, friends provided some hydration. A number brought items for her to sign including a piece of calligraphy by Margaret in 1992. Her magnetic draw was eye-opening and heartwarming.
I began chuckling to myself … to break up the tedium, I went up to Margaret and whispered in her ear, ‘it’s like you’re the pope giving out blessings – everyone wants to be blessed by you!’ We both started laughing and laughing. When I later related this story to Owen in Margaret’s company, he made an impromptu sign of the cross and Margaret quickly responded with her own flourish … of course flowing brushstrokes! Continuing to riff on her new exalted status, I went up and down the waiting line and told them that if they touched Margaret, they would be granted a decade of additional longevity. One immediately responded, ‘I‘ve been through once but need 20 extra years, so I’m going through again!’
It was a wonderful celebration, Margaret was thrilled to her core and you can appreciate her sense of humor!
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